Monday, January 16, 2012

It's weird when you think about it like that. But I got my period when I was 10. I'm now 43. That means for 33 years I've been enjoying the curse of Eve's Fall, the visit from Aunt Flow, Aunt Martha's Big Red Bus, Shark Week as it were.
I thought I was rolling headlong into menopause and was pretty sad about it, despite getting the tubes tied in 2010 it felt like the end of an era, as it were. It felt like something girly and female was dying inside me as my hormones have raged out of control and my cycles ramp up getting worse and ickier each month.
Except, I went to the doctor and he said "Nope, no menopause here."

However, he did feel that my periods are going to get worse not better. He suggested endometrial ablasion which mostly made me want to throw up in my mouth. "Come into my office and we'll burn out the inside of your uterus, then you can go home and it'll seep icky death ooze out on a pad for a week or two."

Or....

Hysterectomy.

He favors the latter. He was honest and said he prefers it bcse he is a surgeon and he likes to do the solution that he can control and that he knows will be 100% effective. I'm also anemic and have to start taking more iron which is also another reason why he favors it.

So then I start thinking about, well, do a partial or do the whole thing? Do it at all? I mean if you do a partial they leave the ovaries and then those are just in there to go bad and sneak up on you and give you ovarian cancer, then you die a horrible death. But, your risk of breast cancer is less if you get the partial hysterectomy and they only give you one kind of synthetic hormones.

Or do I just let it all ride and live through this anemia and misery possibly another ten years or longer.

Do I really want to have my PERIOD FOR 40+ years because that's a huge possibility.

I wanted to be done with surgery for this lifetime. I truly did. But I'd be OUT for this one. I'm not sure I'm brave enough. They'd do robotic surgery with the Davinci machine which is pretty fancy.

It would look like this.

I mean CRAP that's scary enough right?

Too many things to think about. But it's out there and I will have to make a decision at some point sooner rather than later. I don't know yet what I'll do.Tweet

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comments:

I had a partial hysterectomy about 6-7 years ago, it was my choice I was tired of the pain. It was the best choice I've ever made. I did have a cyst and have one of my ovaries removed about a year ago and I am still glad I had it all done.

Menopause is worse when you are slammed into it from having a full hysterectomy from the research I did.

Anyway the choice is yours but if you have any questions feel free to hollar at me <3

Definitely get the second opinion. Hysterectomy is a pretty drastic step, but it might be better long-term for you than the endometrial ablation. That sounds like a stop-gap measure to me. Admittedly, I know very little about that procedure, but what would keep the same thing from happening again in a year or two? I believe the endometrium can grow back, putting you right back at square one - after the fun of having it all burned out once before. A second opinion might make you more comfortable with the options. Call me if you want to talk.

I had both. I stopped producing progesterone and was hemorrhaging. I had the ablation and after 3 months started having cramping every day. I had a total hysterectomy 6 months later. I've never had a hot flash, mood swing, nothing. Try the ablation first. It's less evasive.